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This legendary landmark is worth the rain.

With mass tourism kept at bay by the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the best time to be in the Cambodian city and gateway to Angkor Wat.

Before you set off to Angkor Wat, use this guide to plan your trip.

It sounds “too good to be true”, right? No big resorts... miles of remote beaches... turquoise water... no crowds. The coastline of Cambodia is truly a tropical paradise! There are signs that things are changing, but today Otres Beach, just outside the Cambodian town of Sihanoukville, is untouched by commercial tourism. The beaches are empty and clean. Decent marijuana can be purchased legally (although the law is grey in this area as it is only legal to consume and NOT smoke!) at a number of hip bungalow bars set up along the beach. Drinks are cheap and very easy to come by, and your toes never have to leave the sand. Everything is rustic here, but there is a lot of charm in the dozen establishments along this remote stretch of beach on the Gulf of Thailand. The roads are still dirt. It’s off the beaten path. Air-conditioning is pretty much nonexistent here, and even electricity is hit or miss. Some describe the vibe here like Thailand 20 years ago before tourism was that country’s biggest industry. It’s what all of us beachcombers are looking for, and I found it at Otres Beach, Sihanoukville, Cambodia!

Skip the night markets if you’re after authentic handwoven textiles (most of what’s there comes from Thailand and Vietnam) and instead make a beeline for Weaves of Cambodia. Located in a sleek contemporary store attached to the Angkor Hospital for Children, the proceeds from your purchases go directly to the hospital, which provides free medical care to Cambodian kids an the disabled weavers of Preah Vihear who make these beautiful handwoven textiles, garments, accessories, and woven products, like cushions. I love the large vibrant textiles which make wonderful wall hangings and sideboard runners, however, there are also small inexpensive embroidered purses and wallets, like those above, that make great gifts that give back.

Most travelers to Siem Reap are here to see the magnificent remnants of the Khmer Empire and don’t have Cambodia’s gruesome genocidal history high on their to-do lists. Those sorts of sites – the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek, where hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were buried in mass graves, and Tuol Sleng prison, where some 17,000 were tortured and executed – are reserved for the capital, Phnom Penh. However, for the curious, the completists, and those interested in Cambodia’s modern history, there are a couple of sights at Anlong Veng, not far from the Thai border. Anlong Veng was the last stronghold of the ruthless Khmer Rouge, which ruled the country brutally from 1975-79. The communist regime was responsible for the deaths of millions of Cambodians by execution, torture, hard labor, malnutrition, and disease. The cremation site of former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot has been given the attention it deserves. None. After Pol Pot died while on the run, presumably of a heart attack, his body was hastily burned beneath a pile of rubbish. The site is covered by a rusty corrugated iron roof in a littered gully behind some decrepit buildings on the edge of Anlong Veng. On the main road a small hand-painted sign points in the direction of a gravelly track leading down to the site. Blink and you’d miss it. The site takes all of a few minutes to visit and is not worth a second longer. It can be combined with a stop at Ta Mok’s House if you’re heading to/from Preah Vihear.

To explore this national park, visitors travel on foot and by boat along estuaries through thick mangrove forests and over plank bridges in dense stretches of jungle. The park’s freshwater wetlands and evergreen forests provide a healthy habitat for hundreds of species of animals, but there are pristine beaches here, too.

Set in the hills above the town, Intra Ngean Pagoda (also called Wat Krom) is a prominent historic and religious site for the region. Guided tours explain the significance of the reclining Buddha, as well as the meanings behind the colorful woven tapestries, fascinating statuary and smaller shrines. Monks still live and work at a monastery on the temple grounds. As at all religious sites, visitors should dress demurely.

1 a.m.
The Chillest Nightcap

The evening crescendoes across town at Chinese House, a refurbished colonial mansion. Behind the colonial facades you’ll find exposed rafters, distressed walls, antique Chinese furniture, and eclectic tiles, eliciting the vibe of a mellow after-hours house party. The bar serves classic cocktails to a well-heeled crowd that clearly doesn’t want the night to end. Duck into an intimate corner for sophisticated late-night Cambodian snacks such as crickets with lemon pepper dip and beef lok lak, as you groove to live jazz bands or guest DJs spinning Motown and Asian house.

This appeared in the September-October 2017 Issue.